Title: Merlin XS Pairing: Arthur/Merlin Summary: Frustrated by his father's neverending list of chores, Arthur secretly buys a Druidbot to clean up after him. He probably shouldn't have chosen the Merlin XS, who turns out to be the most clumsy, disobedient, and irritatingly attractive robot Arthur has ever seen. High School AU.
---
"Again?"
Arthur pulled apart the ball of socks and gazed at the mismatched pair, one blue, one orange. A closer inspection of the drawer revealed several rows of neatly wadded piles in chaotic technicolor. Merlin was the most useless servant who'd ever born.
Or created in a science lab, as it were.
Arthur adjusted his glasses and set about disentangling the tidy mess. The robot was supposed to lighten Arthur's chores, not make more of them. After all, keeping a bot right under his father's nose - the stray metal parts on the dining room floor Merlin constantly lost, the random beeping Merlin made when he needed to be serviced - was complicated enough without having to explain the pile of books among the dishware. Although his father enjoyed the luxury of his own personal bot, he'd forbidden Arthur from having one himself. "Self-reliance builds character. Depend on robots to manage your life and soon they'll be the ones managing us.." A completely illogical statement, since robots weren't sentient beings and therefore couldn't have plans for world domination, duh.
Whatever his father might say, Arthur wasn't blind to the perks of foot massages, pressed clothing, and bedsheets free of crumbs from late night snacks, but the real boon was more time freed up for another round of The Forest of Ascetir with no one irritating him about the state of the kitchen. That was how Arthur ended up at the shop with the money he'd so carefully siphoned from his father's bank account over the last year.
The Druidbot 484. Believe.
So went the advert. And Arthur did believe. Well, at least until he got Merlin home and charged him up. But what they lacked in competence, the Druidbot 484s made up for in shininess. Hands down, they were the most realistic looking robots Arthur had ever seen. And the Merlin XS... well, damn, Merlin was altogether too convincing. His gorgeous face had turned Arthur's insides to mush in three seconds flat. It was the kind of artificial perfection that didn't occur in nature. Intense cobalt eyes. Raven black hair. And cheekbones high enough to throw shadows. Arthur had to have the Merlin XS. He had to.
But okay, maybe he should've checked the reviews first.
He didn't understand. George was so perfect. Although he was an older model and could barely pass for C-3PO let alone human, he not only met Uther's every need, he anticipated them. He was so capable Uther never let him out of his sight, even bringing him to the office where he'd been upgraded from servant to personal assistant.
"You, on the other hand, I should return to the shop as defective merchandise," Arthur muttered as he finished rearranging his socks.
Across the room, Merlin stared back at him blankly.
Arthur folded his arms over his chest. "You're cute enough, but you're more like a misbehaving puppy than advanced technology."
Downstairs, keys rattled in the lock.
"Great." His father was home early. The rest of the night would be all lectures and school work. His father's stern voiced sounded in the entryway as he delivered a steady stream of orders to George.
"Merlin, home base," Arthur said. The bot stood at attention. "Home base," Arthur repeated. This time, Merlin scurried into Arthur's cupboard with movements a little too jerky to pass as human. Once inside, Arthur switched Merlin off and watched his bright eyes fade to grey. That was close.
Arthur carefully closed the door and went downstairs to greet his father.
"Good, father. I received high marks on my maths exam." Arthur leaned back in his chair so George could heap a second serving of breakfast fruit on his plate.
"Try harder next time. Someday you'll take over the business. I need you in top form."
Arthur shoved a piece of pineapple in his mouth to prevent himself from saying what was really on his mind. "Yes, father."
"Have you met any nice girls at school?"
"Not yet." Nor was he likely to, but his father asked the same questions with frustrating regularity. Arthur glanced at his mobile. If he could advance to the next level, he'd win the Cup of Life. He rehearsed in his mind the moves he'd make. Would Merlin be good at video games? You'd think so, being a machine himself. Playing against Merlin would be like battling with the computer, but like with a friend, too. Merlin was still upstairs locked in the cupboard, his eyes dark, and he would be there all day while Arthur was at school. It was stupid to feel bad about it, though. Merlin didn't have feelings. He didn't get lonely.
"What about Morgana? She comes from a good family."
Morgana had been ace until last year when all of a sudden she'd gotten contact lenses and tight skirts and was far too busy tongue-wrestling with Leon to bother about him. "We're just friends." Only a few more minutes to endure before his father went to work.
"No such thing as 'just friends' between men and women. Please invite her to dinner sometime."
Arthur nodded and switched his mobile on. His father pursed his lips, but the tolling of the stately grandfather clock silenced whatever criticism he'd been about to make.
"That's settled, then." His father threw his napkin on his plate. "Arthur, do the washing up. And make an appointment to have your hair cut. It's looking untidy again. Do try to take better care of your person."
"But why can't George -"
"Arthur," his father said in warning, and Arthur closed his mouth.
Once his father was gone, Arthur hurried to his room and swung open the cupboard door. Merlin was inside in the exact position Arthur had left him, propped up against some old boxes. It was strangely intimate to be standing this close to Merlin in the narrow recess of the cupboard, closer than he was accustomed to being to other attractive guys. Of course, Merlin wasn't alive. Arthur didn't know why he'd made the comparison.
Anyway, however fit they might be, real guys were arseholes, at least the ones at school, who bullied the only other gay boy and left Arthur in peace only because he'd never admitted the truth that Morgana didn't interest him in the slightest. And maybe because nerdy or not, Arthur was bigger than most and was accustomed to using his height to his advantage when he had to.
Merlin was even taller than him, Arthur realised now that they stood toe-to-toe, and although he was deceptively slim, Merlin's shoulders were almost as broad as his own, if less filled out. Arthur wondered what it would be like if Merlin were real and they had other reasons for hiding together in the dark cupboard. Half-expecting Merlin to shove him off, Arthur fingered the soft material of Merlin's shirt, but Merlin remained inert.
This was all stupid. He'd bought Merlin to do the washing up, and with only an hour left until school, he should probably get on with it if he wanted to have any time to play the video game. As soon as Arthur flipped him on, Merlin's head jerked up and his eyes shone blue.
"Merlin, please go to the kitchen and wash the dishes."
Merlin moved so hastily he would've crashed into Arthur if he hadn't jumped out of the way. He followed the bot downstairs and settled into a chair with his mobile as Merlin scurried about the kitchen and crashed into the pantry door. He wasn't much good as a serving bot, but Arthur kind of liked just having him around.
A loud crash followed by the steady beep beep beep of Merlin's alarms jolted Arthur out of the battle on the screen.
"Dammit! I was so close."
Arthur beheaded one more troll before hitting the pause button with a sigh. He pushed his thick glasses up further onto the bridge of his nose and squinted into the kitchen. At the sink Merlin held a dripping wet sponge in the air, the other hand empty after a dish had slipped through his grasp. A pout darkened his face, or at least Arthur imagined one did.
Arthur scrambled to Merlin's side and lifted the bot's shirt. His fingers lingered a moment too long on the warm skin of Merlin's back - so smooth it felt almost human - before he typed the code into the control panel and the alarm went silent. "That's better."
Merlin didn't answer (obviously). Suds continued to drip from his fingers and collect into a soapy puddle at his feet. He wouldn't move again until Arthur instructed him. Without an independent will, it couldn't be loyalty or even obedience, but still it stirred something in Arthur. Not even George listened to him anymore.
"You know what? Forget this, and forget school. Let's go to the gaming rooms, yeah?"
Morning light from the kitchen window caught in Merlin's eye and made it gleam bright enough that he almost seemed pleased with the idea.
When they arrived at Camelot's Dungeon, they received a few curious looks from the other gamers who were doubtless impressed at seeing a real Druidbot so close. Arthur ignored them and led Merlin to a dark corner where a circular leather sofa wrapped around a gaming station equipped with five wide-screen monitors.
"Merlin, please watch first," Arthur said as he picked up the controls.
The Labyrinth of Gedref was not an easy game. It took some cleverness to map out and remember the twisting paths that would lead to the prize at the exit, not to mention ward off the forest elves who also pursued the gold.
The first time Merlin played, Arthur swiftly located the opening in the manicured bushes while Merlin was still wandering near the entrance, but Arthur noticed that while the levels grew more difficult, Merlin only became more adept.
"You're learning," Arthur said in awe. He knew robots were programmed for it. That was how George had come to so perfectly compliment his father. Seeing it unfold right before his eyes in real time, however, was another thing entirely.
He laid his own controls to one side and scooted closer to Merlin on the sofa so he could watch. Merlin seemed to intuit the design of the labyrinths instead of figure it out by trial and error as Arthur did. It was as if he anticipated the tricks of the maze and could predict how the computer would alter the layout as the levels advanced.
When Merlin finally swept through the deep green of the final labyrinth to claim his prize at the exit, he peeked over at Arthur and cocked his head to the side. His blue eyes twinkled even though there was no sunlight in the room. Arthur nudged him.
"Not bad."
Merlin smiled.
It was a lovely smile that rounded Merlin's face and revealed a pair of dimples. Arthur's skin heated in confused surprise. He wondered if this line of Druidbots was programmed to express emotion. It had never happened before, not even with George. Merlin's eyes widened and his lips parted as if he wanted to tell Arthur something, but bots were no longer designed to speak. Arthur's chest tightened.
"Merlin, please tell me."
Merlin's dimple disappeared and his eyes returned to the usual bright emptiness with which he waited for Arthur's orders. This was one command he couldn't fill.
Later that evening Arthur tucked Merlin reluctantly back into the cupboard. Merlin watched him adjust the position of his arms with a resigned acceptance, and Arthur felt suddenly wrong for shutting Merlin up like this and leaving him all alone in the narrow darkness. He found the hem of Merlin's shirt and reached up under it until Merlin's skin gave way to the coldness of the control panel. It was good to touch it everyday, to remind him that Merlin was only a bot.
An unexpected pressure on Arthur's waist startled him. It was Merlin's hand, as if he were entreating Arthur to stay. Perhaps Arthur's jostling had knocked the hand there by accident, because he'd given Merlin no order, and Merlin could do nothing of his own volition. Accident or not, Arthur liked it. If anyone caught sight of them like this, it would look like they were embracing. Maybe they were.
Arthur lingered over the idea. He knew the robots' surface contained sensory receptors that helped the bots navigate the world and avoid danger. How did Merlin feel stimuli that had been programmed as bad for him? Was it a kind of pain? And if Merlin could feel pain, could he feel pleasure, too? Arthur hugged Merlin tighter, and the movement unsettled the bot enough that Merlin's face dropped down slightly.
It was a harmless wish. And Merlin would be alone all night. So Arthur pressed his lips to Merlin's for a moment.
Nothing happened.
Arthur wanted to kick himself for his weakness. He flipped off the bot's switch and forced himself to watch as the light faded from Merlin's eyes. Just a machine.
Oh god I am so into this fic!!! Fantastic, anon!!! And Arthur has nerdy glasses!! I love lonely nerdy needy Arthur and magical bot Merlin. :) And the buildup of could-it-be-no-impossible-but-maybe touches. Brilliant!!
Wow. This is terrific, Anon. I already love clumsy druidbot Merlin and his lonely, nerdy owner Arthur. Merlin not being able to communicate is a real stumbling block but the robot seems to be trying to convey feelings to Arthur. I'm looking forward to seeing where this "relationship" goes.
Waaaah! * claps while sniffling * This version of lonely Arthur, searching for connection, is giving me so many feelings. Love how, even with all his issues with his father, his chores, hiding his sexuality, he is Arthur and so is practical and intelligent about seeking solutions for them - even if he doesn't at first realise that Merlin may be the key to all of these, not just getting him out of chores! The bit about bots being no longer designed to speak made my heart ache. Really hope to see more of this.
Oh this is amazing! I love how lonely and missunderstood Arthur seems to be and how sweet and real Merlin feels! This is exactly what I'm seeking in human/androids relationships!
The Pendragon household hadn't lost a dish in weeks, and these days Arthur's sock drawer was always in order, each sock perfectly matched with its pair and rolled into a tidy ball. Merlin had grown so capable, in fact, that Arthur's chores were finished almost before he ordered Merlin to do them, leaving a lot more time to spend at the gaming rooms. They always went together now, and although Arthur had once considered Merlin nothing more than his servant, he discovered he didn't mind so much the loneliness at school now that he had Merlin to come home to.
It got so that when Arthur tried to shut Merlin down one night, he found that he couldn't.
They were standing in their routine, intimate way in the darkness of the cupboard. Merlin waited patiently with trusting eyes while Arthur's finger lingered on his on/off switch. Arthur told himself that when he turned Merlin off, it was just like tucking Merlin into bed to sleep for the night, but that wasn't how it felt anymore. Lately, every time Merlin's bright eyes went empty, it was a little like death.
"You are a complete pain in the arse," Arthur said as his hand dropped away from the control panel to frame Merlin's waist instead. He rubbed his thumb over what passed for Merlin's hipbone. An unwelcome thought took hold of Arthur then. Was Merlin himself… built as men were? He hadn't considered the possibility before, but once the idea entered his mind, he couldn't get it out of his head. To give a robot such parts seemed perverse, but to deprive one of them almost cruel.
Arthur shook his head as if to drive such thoughts away. It was the verisimilitude of the bot that was confusing him, but such likeness only went so far. Merlin didn't smell human. There was no sweat or musk. Underneath the traces of soap and shampoo from running the self-cleaning program last time, Arthur caught the faint scent of metal.
"I really don't want to shut you down. Will you be frightened in the cupboard tonight if I leave your power on?" He gave Merlin a chance to protest, but the bot remained silent. Of course Merlin wouldn't be frightened. He was a machine. "That's settled, then. If you need me, I'll be sleeping right out here. Night, Merlin."
Arthur closed the cupboard door, and reassured himself that the distraught expression he thought he caught on Merlin's face had been nothing more than the projection of his own stupid and inexplicable guilt.
Arthur tossed and turned, but he couldn't sleep knowing Merlin was awake and alone in the small, dark space of the cupboard. Behind the slim door that separated them, he knew Merlin's eyes glowed blue and inquisitive, waiting for Arthur to free him. Arthur pressed a pillow over his face and groaned. Only the biggest fool in London would be obsessing over the imaginary feelings of a robot. But still.
"Dammit."
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pressed a hand to his eyes. He'd been lying awake for hours and would have a shit day at school tomorrow.
When he opened the cupboard door, Merlin was standing exactly as he left him, looking for all the world like a puppy who trusted his owner would find him and was happy that he had. Arthur tried to be irritated but ended up just being relieved to see Merlin again. Maybe it wasn't something he could explain to other people, but leaving Merlin in the cupboard all night felt wrong and Arthur knew right then he'd made the right decision.
After that, Merlin always spent the night in Arthur's bed.
When Arthur was ready to sleep, he would order Merlin to get into his bed and lay quietly. After a few runs, Merlin had mastered the routine and Arthur no longer needed to give the orders. Merlin would just crawl under Arthur's covers and scoot all the way to the wall, then pull the sheet back and look at Arthur inquisitively, as if asking when he'd join him.
Admittedly, it was a little odd to sleep beside someone (something?) who spent the entire night quietly staring up at the ceiling, but rather than be uncomfortable, Arthur felt safer, as if Merlin was watching over him while he slept. It got so it began to feel normal, and Arthur wondered how he'd ever fallen asleep without Merlin beside him.
Mostly they never touched on the wide bed. While Merlin kept to his side, Arthur had plenty of space to stretch out and arrange himself until he was comfortable. A dip in the mattress and some pleasant warmth revealed Merlin's location, but Arthur steered clear of getting too close. Occasionally he would wake up to his leg thrown casually over Merlin's or his forehead pressed into Merlin's neck, but these instances were rare and usually the result of strange dreams, and Merlin, being Merlin, never complained.
One night Arthur woke up covered in a thin sheen of sweat and breathing hard, reeling from a dream in which Merlin hadn't been a robot at all, but instead a real boy, another student at his school. In the dream Arthur had just finished a game and had jogged into the locker room ready for a quick shower, only to discover Merlin there alone. Merlin's arse was small and tight and shifted as he arranged the items in his locker, and when Arthur coughed uncomfortably to signal his presence Merlin turned around and smiled at him. While Arthur stood frozen in place, desperately wondering what to do and if he should leave, Merlin sauntered up to him full of confidence and pressed his lips to Arthur's. You want me. I've seen the way you stare. Merlin's voice had rumbled deep and self-assured in this way Arthur had never imagined, for all the times he'd wondered what Merlin would sound like if he could've talked, and then to Arthur's surprise Merlin stripped his clothes off with his usual efficiency and sank down on his knees in front of him.
The dream had been painted in intense colours so that it'd seemed more true than reality. It was pathetic to be so lonely at school Arthur could only imagine such things happening with a robot, but whatever feelings of shame he had were countered by the vividness of Merlin's pretty face as he'd parted his full, red lips to take Arthur in. Awake now in the darkness, Arthur was disturbed to find himself hard, and he squeezed his thigh in frustration. If he'd been alone he'd have known how to relieve himself. He rocked his hips and the light friction of the bedsheet only made him needier. He spied over at where Merlin lay unaware and staring upward into the darkness as he always did. The sight of his lovely, trusting face in profile only made Arthur yearn more until the ache in his groin grew intolerable.
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Summary: Frustrated by his father's neverending list of chores, Arthur secretly buys a Druidbot to clean up after him. He probably shouldn't have chosen the Merlin XS, who turns out to be the most clumsy, disobedient, and irritatingly attractive robot Arthur has ever seen. High School AU.
---
"Again?"
Arthur pulled apart the ball of socks and gazed at the mismatched pair, one blue, one orange. A closer inspection of the drawer revealed several rows of neatly wadded piles in chaotic technicolor. Merlin was the most useless servant who'd ever born.
Or created in a science lab, as it were.
Arthur adjusted his glasses and set about disentangling the tidy mess. The robot was supposed to lighten Arthur's chores, not make more of them. After all, keeping a bot right under his father's nose - the stray metal parts on the dining room floor Merlin constantly lost, the random beeping Merlin made when he needed to be serviced - was complicated enough without having to explain the pile of books among the dishware. Although his father enjoyed the luxury of his own personal bot, he'd forbidden Arthur from having one himself. "Self-reliance builds character. Depend on robots to manage your life and soon they'll be the ones managing us.." A completely illogical statement, since robots weren't sentient beings and therefore couldn't have plans for world domination, duh.
Whatever his father might say, Arthur wasn't blind to the perks of foot massages, pressed clothing, and bedsheets free of crumbs from late night snacks, but the real boon was more time freed up for another round of The Forest of Ascetir with no one irritating him about the state of the kitchen. That was how Arthur ended up at the shop with the money he'd so carefully siphoned from his father's bank account over the last year.
The Druidbot 484. Believe.
So went the advert. And Arthur did believe. Well, at least until he got Merlin home and charged him up. But what they lacked in competence, the Druidbot 484s made up for in shininess. Hands down, they were the most realistic looking robots Arthur had ever seen. And the Merlin XS... well, damn, Merlin was altogether too convincing. His gorgeous face had turned Arthur's insides to mush in three seconds flat. It was the kind of artificial perfection that didn't occur in nature. Intense cobalt eyes. Raven black hair. And cheekbones high enough to throw shadows. Arthur had to have the Merlin XS. He had to.
But okay, maybe he should've checked the reviews first.
He didn't understand. George was so perfect. Although he was an older model and could barely pass for C-3PO let alone human, he not only met Uther's every need, he anticipated them. He was so capable Uther never let him out of his sight, even bringing him to the office where he'd been upgraded from servant to personal assistant.
"You, on the other hand, I should return to the shop as defective merchandise," Arthur muttered as he finished rearranging his socks.
Across the room, Merlin stared back at him blankly.
Arthur folded his arms over his chest. "You're cute enough, but you're more like a misbehaving puppy than advanced technology."
Downstairs, keys rattled in the lock.
"Great." His father was home early. The rest of the night would be all lectures and school work. His father's stern voiced sounded in the entryway as he delivered a steady stream of orders to George.
"Merlin, home base," Arthur said. The bot stood at attention. "Home base," Arthur repeated. This time, Merlin scurried into Arthur's cupboard with movements a little too jerky to pass as human. Once inside, Arthur switched Merlin off and watched his bright eyes fade to grey. That was close.
Arthur carefully closed the door and went downstairs to greet his father.
Reply
Reply
MOAH PLEASE!!!
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
"Good, father. I received high marks on my maths exam." Arthur leaned back in his chair so George could heap a second serving of breakfast fruit on his plate.
"Try harder next time. Someday you'll take over the business. I need you in top form."
Arthur shoved a piece of pineapple in his mouth to prevent himself from saying what was really on his mind. "Yes, father."
"Have you met any nice girls at school?"
"Not yet." Nor was he likely to, but his father asked the same questions with frustrating regularity. Arthur glanced at his mobile. If he could advance to the next level, he'd win the Cup of Life. He rehearsed in his mind the moves he'd make. Would Merlin be good at video games? You'd think so, being a machine himself. Playing against Merlin would be like battling with the computer, but like with a friend, too. Merlin was still upstairs locked in the cupboard, his eyes dark, and he would be there all day while Arthur was at school. It was stupid to feel bad about it, though. Merlin didn't have feelings. He didn't get lonely.
"What about Morgana? She comes from a good family."
Morgana had been ace until last year when all of a sudden she'd gotten contact lenses and tight skirts and was far too busy tongue-wrestling with Leon to bother about him. "We're just friends." Only a few more minutes to endure before his father went to work.
"No such thing as 'just friends' between men and women. Please invite her to dinner sometime."
Arthur nodded and switched his mobile on. His father pursed his lips, but the tolling of the stately grandfather clock silenced whatever criticism he'd been about to make.
"That's settled, then." His father threw his napkin on his plate. "Arthur, do the washing up. And make an appointment to have your hair cut. It's looking untidy again. Do try to take better care of your person."
"But why can't George -"
"Arthur," his father said in warning, and Arthur closed his mouth.
Once his father was gone, Arthur hurried to his room and swung open the cupboard door. Merlin was inside in the exact position Arthur had left him, propped up against some old boxes. It was strangely intimate to be standing this close to Merlin in the narrow recess of the cupboard, closer than he was accustomed to being to other attractive guys. Of course, Merlin wasn't alive. Arthur didn't know why he'd made the comparison.
Anyway, however fit they might be, real guys were arseholes, at least the ones at school, who bullied the only other gay boy and left Arthur in peace only because he'd never admitted the truth that Morgana didn't interest him in the slightest. And maybe because nerdy or not, Arthur was bigger than most and was accustomed to using his height to his advantage when he had to.
Merlin was even taller than him, Arthur realised now that they stood toe-to-toe, and although he was deceptively slim, Merlin's shoulders were almost as broad as his own, if less filled out. Arthur wondered what it would be like if Merlin were real and they had other reasons for hiding together in the dark cupboard. Half-expecting Merlin to shove him off, Arthur fingered the soft material of Merlin's shirt, but Merlin remained inert.
This was all stupid. He'd bought Merlin to do the washing up, and with only an hour left until school, he should probably get on with it if he wanted to have any time to play the video game. As soon as Arthur flipped him on, Merlin's head jerked up and his eyes shone blue.
"Merlin, please go to the kitchen and wash the dishes."
Merlin moved so hastily he would've crashed into Arthur if he hadn't jumped out of the way. He followed the bot downstairs and settled into a chair with his mobile as Merlin scurried about the kitchen and crashed into the pantry door. He wasn't much good as a serving bot, but Arthur kind of liked just having him around.
Okay, well maybe that was overstating it.
Reply
"Dammit! I was so close."
Arthur beheaded one more troll before hitting the pause button with a sigh. He pushed his thick glasses up further onto the bridge of his nose and squinted into the kitchen. At the sink Merlin held a dripping wet sponge in the air, the other hand empty after a dish had slipped through his grasp. A pout darkened his face, or at least Arthur imagined one did.
Arthur scrambled to Merlin's side and lifted the bot's shirt. His fingers lingered a moment too long on the warm skin of Merlin's back - so smooth it felt almost human - before he typed the code into the control panel and the alarm went silent. "That's better."
Merlin didn't answer (obviously). Suds continued to drip from his fingers and collect into a soapy puddle at his feet. He wouldn't move again until Arthur instructed him. Without an independent will, it couldn't be loyalty or even obedience, but still it stirred something in Arthur. Not even George listened to him anymore.
"You know what? Forget this, and forget school. Let's go to the gaming rooms, yeah?"
Morning light from the kitchen window caught in Merlin's eye and made it gleam bright enough that he almost seemed pleased with the idea.
When they arrived at Camelot's Dungeon, they received a few curious looks from the other gamers who were doubtless impressed at seeing a real Druidbot so close. Arthur ignored them and led Merlin to a dark corner where a circular leather sofa wrapped around a gaming station equipped with five wide-screen monitors.
"Merlin, please watch first," Arthur said as he picked up the controls.
The Labyrinth of Gedref was not an easy game. It took some cleverness to map out and remember the twisting paths that would lead to the prize at the exit, not to mention ward off the forest elves who also pursued the gold.
The first time Merlin played, Arthur swiftly located the opening in the manicured bushes while Merlin was still wandering near the entrance, but Arthur noticed that while the levels grew more difficult, Merlin only became more adept.
"You're learning," Arthur said in awe. He knew robots were programmed for it. That was how George had come to so perfectly compliment his father. Seeing it unfold right before his eyes in real time, however, was another thing entirely.
He laid his own controls to one side and scooted closer to Merlin on the sofa so he could watch. Merlin seemed to intuit the design of the labyrinths instead of figure it out by trial and error as Arthur did. It was as if he anticipated the tricks of the maze and could predict how the computer would alter the layout as the levels advanced.
When Merlin finally swept through the deep green of the final labyrinth to claim his prize at the exit, he peeked over at Arthur and cocked his head to the side. His blue eyes twinkled even though there was no sunlight in the room. Arthur nudged him.
"Not bad."
Merlin smiled.
It was a lovely smile that rounded Merlin's face and revealed a pair of dimples. Arthur's skin heated in confused surprise. He wondered if this line of Druidbots was programmed to express emotion. It had never happened before, not even with George. Merlin's eyes widened and his lips parted as if he wanted to tell Arthur something, but bots were no longer designed to speak. Arthur's chest tightened.
"Merlin, please tell me."
Merlin's dimple disappeared and his eyes returned to the usual bright emptiness with which he waited for Arthur's orders. This was one command he couldn't fill.
Later that evening Arthur tucked Merlin reluctantly back into the cupboard. Merlin watched him adjust the position of his arms with a resigned acceptance, and Arthur felt suddenly wrong for shutting Merlin up like this and leaving him all alone in the narrow darkness. He found the hem of Merlin's shirt and reached up under it until Merlin's skin gave way to the coldness of the control panel. It was good to touch it everyday, to remind him that Merlin was only a bot.
Reply
Arthur lingered over the idea. He knew the robots' surface contained sensory receptors that helped the bots navigate the world and avoid danger. How did Merlin feel stimuli that had been programmed as bad for him? Was it a kind of pain? And if Merlin could feel pain, could he feel pleasure, too? Arthur hugged Merlin tighter, and the movement unsettled the bot enough that Merlin's face dropped down slightly.
It was a harmless wish. And Merlin would be alone all night. So Arthur pressed his lips to Merlin's for a moment.
Nothing happened.
Arthur wanted to kick himself for his weakness. He flipped off the bot's switch and forced himself to watch as the light faded from Merlin's eyes. Just a machine.
*
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Can't wait for more!
Reply
It got so that when Arthur tried to shut Merlin down one night, he found that he couldn't.
They were standing in their routine, intimate way in the darkness of the cupboard. Merlin waited patiently with trusting eyes while Arthur's finger lingered on his on/off switch. Arthur told himself that when he turned Merlin off, it was just like tucking Merlin into bed to sleep for the night, but that wasn't how it felt anymore. Lately, every time Merlin's bright eyes went empty, it was a little like death.
"You are a complete pain in the arse," Arthur said as his hand dropped away from the control panel to frame Merlin's waist instead. He rubbed his thumb over what passed for Merlin's hipbone. An unwelcome thought took hold of Arthur then. Was Merlin himself… built as men were? He hadn't considered the possibility before, but once the idea entered his mind, he couldn't get it out of his head. To give a robot such parts seemed perverse, but to deprive one of them almost cruel.
Arthur shook his head as if to drive such thoughts away. It was the verisimilitude of the bot that was confusing him, but such likeness only went so far. Merlin didn't smell human. There was no sweat or musk. Underneath the traces of soap and shampoo from running the self-cleaning program last time, Arthur caught the faint scent of metal.
"I really don't want to shut you down. Will you be frightened in the cupboard tonight if I leave your power on?" He gave Merlin a chance to protest, but the bot remained silent. Of course Merlin wouldn't be frightened. He was a machine. "That's settled, then. If you need me, I'll be sleeping right out here. Night, Merlin."
Arthur closed the cupboard door, and reassured himself that the distraught expression he thought he caught on Merlin's face had been nothing more than the projection of his own stupid and inexplicable guilt.
Arthur tossed and turned, but he couldn't sleep knowing Merlin was awake and alone in the small, dark space of the cupboard. Behind the slim door that separated them, he knew Merlin's eyes glowed blue and inquisitive, waiting for Arthur to free him. Arthur pressed a pillow over his face and groaned. Only the biggest fool in London would be obsessing over the imaginary feelings of a robot. But still.
"Dammit."
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pressed a hand to his eyes. He'd been lying awake for hours and would have a shit day at school tomorrow.
When he opened the cupboard door, Merlin was standing exactly as he left him, looking for all the world like a puppy who trusted his owner would find him and was happy that he had. Arthur tried to be irritated but ended up just being relieved to see Merlin again. Maybe it wasn't something he could explain to other people, but leaving Merlin in the cupboard all night felt wrong and Arthur knew right then he'd made the right decision.
After that, Merlin always spent the night in Arthur's bed.
Reply
Admittedly, it was a little odd to sleep beside someone (something?) who spent the entire night quietly staring up at the ceiling, but rather than be uncomfortable, Arthur felt safer, as if Merlin was watching over him while he slept. It got so it began to feel normal, and Arthur wondered how he'd ever fallen asleep without Merlin beside him.
Mostly they never touched on the wide bed. While Merlin kept to his side, Arthur had plenty of space to stretch out and arrange himself until he was comfortable. A dip in the mattress and some pleasant warmth revealed Merlin's location, but Arthur steered clear of getting too close. Occasionally he would wake up to his leg thrown casually over Merlin's or his forehead pressed into Merlin's neck, but these instances were rare and usually the result of strange dreams, and Merlin, being Merlin, never complained.
One night Arthur woke up covered in a thin sheen of sweat and breathing hard, reeling from a dream in which Merlin hadn't been a robot at all, but instead a real boy, another student at his school. In the dream Arthur had just finished a game and had jogged into the locker room ready for a quick shower, only to discover Merlin there alone. Merlin's arse was small and tight and shifted as he arranged the items in his locker, and when Arthur coughed uncomfortably to signal his presence Merlin turned around and smiled at him. While Arthur stood frozen in place, desperately wondering what to do and if he should leave, Merlin sauntered up to him full of confidence and pressed his lips to Arthur's. You want me. I've seen the way you stare. Merlin's voice had rumbled deep and self-assured in this way Arthur had never imagined, for all the times he'd wondered what Merlin would sound like if he could've talked, and then to Arthur's surprise Merlin stripped his clothes off with his usual efficiency and sank down on his knees in front of him.
The dream had been painted in intense colours so that it'd seemed more true than reality. It was pathetic to be so lonely at school Arthur could only imagine such things happening with a robot, but whatever feelings of shame he had were countered by the vividness of Merlin's pretty face as he'd parted his full, red lips to take Arthur in. Awake now in the darkness, Arthur was disturbed to find himself hard, and he squeezed his thigh in frustration. If he'd been alone he'd have known how to relieve himself. He rocked his hips and the light friction of the bedsheet only made him needier. He spied over at where Merlin lay unaware and staring upward into the darkness as he always did. The sight of his lovely, trusting face in profile only made Arthur yearn more until the ache in his groin grew intolerable.
Reply
Leave a comment